Serbian city of Novi Sad received its first charter of a free royal town in 1748. The charter was
issued and signed by Empress Maria Theresia, who granted the City a high degree of autonomy within the Habsburg Empire. With her Imperial signature Maria Theresia exempted Novi Sad from any civil, county, or military authority, awarded it the status of a city, the right to coat of arms, the right to its own municipal government, the right to elect 12 citizens for the City Magistrate, the right to its own Statute, the right to collect its own taxes, and the right to a new name. The Charter of 1748 gave Novi Sad the status and the privileges which most developed urban municipalities of the Empire had already been enjoying for some time.